Forks & Planes & Diapers too!

Karis loves green beans. A few days back she decided to try eating green beans with a fork. We got a kick out of watching her pick up the green bean and place it on the fork. She would hold the green bean on the fork and place it in her mouth. She swaps back and forth between her right and left hands as she holds the fork, but her left hand seems to be getting more use.

She decided to see what spearing the bean would do. She was so proud of herself. She got it to her mouth and the green bean fell off the fork. She looked up and said, "Uh-oh". She started the whole process over again. She is very patient and determined to keep going until she does what she sets out to do. Unlike her Momma, she is not perfectionistic. As long as it sort of looks like what she wanted, she is fine with it. I am very glad about that.

Our next door neighbor and friend "Aunt" Janet taught Karis how to fly on an adults legs. She now wants mom to do it with her. I have to say that I am getting great ab workouts. If there was sound to the picture you would hear Karis saying "Weeee!"

I promise that Karis is not normally just diaper clad. She does have clothes and wears them often. These two days she just happened to be running around the house in a diaper. She seems to like it.

Getting Back To Normal

Brooks' News:

I am sorry that it has been almost a month since my last post. We evacuated to SC from Gustav. While we were in SC we had to evacuate again because of Hannah. We stayed in AL for a few days before being able to get back into NOLA. The seminary was without power for many days after Gustav hit.

We made it back to NOLA on a Sunday afternoon. Page had all of a day to wash clothes and get repacked to return to active duty with his unit. They had been stationed down town to work on the levees, distribute water and food, maintain crowd control at many of the distribution sites, and work with the police to maintain order.

When we told Karis that Daddy was packing up to leave to go back to "duty", she decided she wanted to go with him. Here is a pic of what she decided she was going to do.

She decided that if Daddy has to go, she was going to go with him. She would stow away in his suite case and no one would know she was there.

Page has been released as of this weekend. He had one more "job" to do today, but he will be back at home for good starting Monday. We are very excited about Daddy being home. Please pray with us that the transition of his coming home would go smoothly. God has already been answering this request, but we can definitely use all the prayers we can get.

VINTAGE NEWS:

For those of you keeping up with Vintage (our church plant), let me update you. We had our Baptism and BBQ today. We baptized 7 people in a one of those 5 foot swimming pools. It was one of the most celebrative services I have seen. We had a service with worship and communion and then moved down stairs to an open parking lot behind our church. We baptized those 7 new believers and worshipped and praised the Lord over the miracles He has worked in the lives of these new believers. We had 109 people at worship today. We barely fit everyone in the room for worship. Many of us were standing in the back during the actual service.

This service today was the lead up service to our kick off or "launch" next week. Even though we have been meeting for almost a year, our church has not yet been established as a church. This launch will establish us as an "official" church in the Uptown community.

Prayer Requests:

1) We have nearly 14 new "Lifegroups" or small groups beginning this week on Wednesday night. These groups meet all over our city. Please pray for the facilitators of these groups. They need God's wisdom as they facilitate and lead these groups in discipleship and spiritual growth. These groups are where the growth and maturing of each member should happen.

2) Pray that these "Lifegroups" will become "communities" of believers.

3) Pray for Rob Wilton, Andrew Ogea, and Page as they pastor this group of believers God has placed in Uptown. Pray for wisdom, humility, and grace as God guides them in the way He wants us as His church body in Uptown to go.

4) Pray for the community of Uptown: a) that God would open their hearts to His Truth; b) that He would draw men, women, & children to Him; c) that He would do miracles that only He can do and that these miracles would be recognized by everyone as His Work; and d) that Satan would have not power in the Uptown area.

Evacuation-Day 4 (Sunday)

We had such a wonderful day today. We got up early and headed to Spartanburg to go to First Baptist where Page served on staff for 2 years while we were in South Carolina. We were able to see so many friends. They loved on us and assured us of their prayers and support if we were to need anything.

We ate lunch with our friends Mark & Cecilia Knight. We were able to catch up with them and visit with their children who have grown so much since the last time we saw them. After lunch we spent several hours with the Cash family. Their daughters, Grace and Annabeth, both evacuated from Covington & New Orleans. Annabeth's husband, Rob, is on the pastoral team with Page and Andrew Ogea. Both Rob and Andrew are in Covington waiting to help the city in any way they can. 

We spent some time with the Cash family doing what Page called "group therapy". We had a good time catching up with Kitty and Bruce Cash and hanging out with Grace & Annabeth. We are so grateful for their friendships. Page was able to take a nap for an hour. He said it was the best sleep he has had for a while. Of course I reminded him that he had not been in a home in almost 2 months. We have always considered the Cash's home a home away from home. I am sure the nap was a good one because he was comfortable and relaxed.

We got home around 8 pm last night. We put Karis to bed and then worked on our classes on line. We of course spent several hours watching the news. We have had a roller coaster of emotions. We are dealing with them as well as can be expected. Page is more optimistic than I am, but that is pretty normal for our relationship. He is always the optimist. I worry more than I should. I am praying that the Lord would teach me to trust Him when so much is unknown.